In addition to being named based on the tissue of origin, sarcomas are also assigned a grade (low, intermediate, or high) based on the presence and frequency of certain cellular and subcellular characteristics associated with malignant biological behavior. Low grade sarcomas are usually treated surgically, although sometimes radiation therapy or chemotherapy are used. Intermediate and high grade sarcomas are more frequently treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.[1] Since higher grade tumors are more likely to undergo metastasis (invasion and spread to locoregional and distant sites), they are treated more aggressively. The recognition that many sarcomas are sensitive to chemotherapy has dramatically improved the survival of patients. For example, in the era before chemotherapy, long term survival for patients with localized osteosarcoma was only approximately 20%, but now has risen to 60–70%.[2]

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (8830/3)(This is an obsolete term that is no longer recognized by the World Health Organization. Many of these tumors would currently be classified as "undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma".)

Surgery is important in the treatment of most sarcomas.[3] Limb sparing surgery, as opposed to amputation, can now be used to save the limbs of patients in at least 90% of extremity tumor cases.[3] Additional treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy, may be administered before and/or after surgery.[1]Chemotherapy significantly improves the prognosis for many sarcoma patients, especially those with bone sarcomas.[4] Treatment can be a long and arduous process, lasting about a year for many patients.[1]

Liposarcoma treatment consists of surgical resection, with chemotherapy not being used outside of the investigative setting. Adjuvant radiotherapy may also be used after surgical excision for liposarcoma.[5]

Sarcomas are quite rare with only 15,000 new cases per year in the United States.[9] Sarcomas therefore represent about one percent of the 1.5 million new cancer diagnoses in that country each year.[10]